Nikola Corporation this week announced that its HYLA brand made 42 Class 8 Nikola hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in 2023. The company wholesaled 35 to dealers and customers in the U.S. and Canada.
The seven trucks produced but not sold will be used for further testing and demonstrations—three vehicles will undergo an extended field test with a fleet partner, two are in continued validation and engineering, and two are used for service training and customer demos.
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The FCEV has a range of up to 500 miles and an estimated fueling time as low as 20 minutes, according to the company. However, the refueling time estimate depends on the characteristics of the hydrogen fueling location, including fueling hardware and software protocol, fuel amount, and fueling conditions.
The company believes its truck has versatile applications ranging from drayage and intermodal to metro-regional truckload and less-than-truckload to certain specialized hauling use cases.
The FCEV started serial production on July 31, 2023, with the commercial launch on September 28. The trucks are assembled in Coolidge, Arizona.
In November 2023, Nikola reported 277 non-binding orders from 35 customers for its hydrogen FCEV.
According to Nikola CEO Steve Girsky, the FCEV has proven reliable in initial tests. He says customer pilot programs have shown truck uptime at 98%, which is crucial for efficient fleet usage.
Girsky was named CEO in August 2023. The former GM exec and Nikola board chairman replaced Michael Lohscheller, who stepped down due to a family health matter.
Nikola's founder, Trevor Milton, was recently sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating claims about the company's trucks.
